Could One Of These Have Eaten My Platy?

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

Doomchibi

Fish Fanatic
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Messages
106
Reaction score
3
Location
Massachusetts, USA
I have a 75 gallon freshwater tank with fish including a 3.5" leopard ctenopoma, 3" african featherfin catfish and an approximately 4.5" african brown knifefish. I had a single adult platy that was in the tank as well, because it was a survivor from a columnaris infected tank a while back and I have been planning on moving it out eventually. It seemed perfectly fine for a few months, no one bothered it at all and it either kept to itself or hovered around my angelfish. Just recently I realized I haven't seen it in about 4 days and after searching my tank and luring all of the fish out with food, I still cannot find it so I am thinking it must have been eaten by something. There is no way it could have jumped out of the tank as it is completely covered. I really don't think any of the fish I named are large enough to have eaten a 1.5" (I think it was a bit larger) adult platy whole...? Does anyone think it could have been a possibility with any of the three fish I named? 
 
If you haven't seen it in a few days it could have died and the catfish ate the body I've seen catfish do that before and I'm sure he would have no problem consuming the whole thing in 4 days.
 
4.5 inch brown knife fish sounds about right.
 
I'm guessin either the ctenopoma or the knifefish. Both can easily suck in a platy in that size
 
I know I would not trust my three 10-12cm SL Ctenopoma with a Platy, these days I would not risk them with anything streamlined besides my eldest remaining Ilyodon xantusi (goodeid) that has a deep body.
 
I'm not sure what my ~14cm SL African Knife is capable of taking down, but it does chase around my ~10cm SL Distichodus altus trio and ~8cm SL Steatocranus casuarius for a few seconds every now and again.
 
My ~18cm SL Synodontis budgetti (named Troy from ex-owner) came to me because he was chomping down Neon Tetras and Kribensis juveniles at will, while I could see a ~7cm SL specimen trying small fish for size, at best it would probably harass something like an adult Platy and feast on a dead corpse.
 
Besides the above, my 6-footer also contains a ~7cm SL African Butterfly Fish and more importantly the biggest predatory threat of them all, my ~15cm Chrysichthys ornatus. His/her mouth opens up to ~3cm diameter when "yawning," which is why I have been recently become concerned about my Knife; Butterfly; Steatocranus; trio of ~10cm SL Euchilichthys spp.; trio of Synodontis brichardi; all of which could potentially get held inside the catfish's outer jaw while the "throat teeth" gradually digest the victim!
 
Thank you all for the responses. I still haven't seen it today so I am pretty sure at this point that it is long gone. I would have thought it was the knife as well at first but the thing is that one of the foods I give are shrimp pellets which are not that big at all, and my ctenopoma chokes on them if I don't break them in half and my knife I have seen struggling with them as well. I have seen my ctenopoma yawn a few times but her mouth really doesn't look that big at all.. I think she could *maybe* eat a small neon tetra without choking to death on it. I guess I am just going to have to accept that the platy is gone and I don't know who did it. I'm the one at fault anyways for thinking a little livebearer could hold it's own in that tank for so long. :(
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top